Sport Centre
18-12-2009

Shower of Goals on Friday, Saturday Will Decide Everything

The fourth day of the World U20 Ice Hockey Championship brought spectacular games and many goals on Friday. The favorites won but the winner who will automatically win the promotion will be decided on Saturday 16:30 when Hungary meets Great Britain in Phoenix Hall.

Friday's program started with the Spain versus South-Korea match. The Spanish - who lost only in overtime against Great Britain - played well again and took the lead against the tough Koreans in the first period scoring 2-0 thanks to Hernandez and Betran.The Hispanic Team's domination went on, the goals of Pedraz, Munoz and Quevedo was answered only by Ji Man Yoon and Kwon Ki Min ending the game 5-2. "The team played its best and its key was the good defense play. We are playing as a team now and as the end of the Championship is approaching we are getting better. We felt a bit tired at the beginning of the game then we could earn a very important victory in the race for a medal", Juan Munoz, best player of the Spanish Team said.

During the Mexico-Great Britain match the Mexicans tried to counter their opponents in vain, the British kept scoring goal after goal and finally won 25-1. Peter Russell, coach of the Anglo-Saxon team talked about the upcoming Saturday night derby against the Hungarians. "The game against Mexico didn't go as well as we have planned. We enjoyed the game but let a goal in that made our goalie frustrated. The game against the Hungarians will be all exciting. We'll try to beat them but we all know that they are the favorites of this group. Well, we'll see...", Peter Russell said.

For the hosts, there were no big obstacles to overcome on Friday: in the first period, playing a nice and clever game, they jumped into an early 6-1 lead against the Chinese. To the goals of Somogyi (2), Dániel Kiss, Bartalis, Dávid Kiss and Popovics only Ning Li answered, thus the game was decided early on. Somogyi double scored again that was followed by Popovics, Szilágyi, Adrián Tóth, Hardi and Dávid Kiss to score. The third period opened from 13-1 and ended 20-1 (scorers of the third period: A. Tóth 2, Németh, Pavuk, Hajós, Varga, Somogyi). After the game ending in a mass punch-up the hosts' coach, J. P. MacCallum said: "I can understand that the Chinese were frustrated since they got 20 goals. However, their behavior was far from what the spirit of fair play would demand. Our most important game will be against the British. The winner will be who will be in better shape at that moment. I trust my players because they are better than the opponent". 

Last day's program of the Championship in Phoenix Hall: Spain vs. Mexico (13:00), South-Korea vs. China (20:00), Hungary vs. Great-Britain (16:30).

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